Microsoft has officially announced on the Microsoft 365 Admin Centre that the company will replace the UWP Windows 11 Mail and Calendar app with the web-based Outlook for mail and calendar. The company will start rolling out this update in September 2024. However, Microsoft has been testing Outlook in preview.
Outlook is also available for Mac devices, and you can download the Outlook Preview from the Microsoft Store. Microsoft Outlook on Windows 11 modernizes the Mail and Calendar apps. As Outlook reaches stability, Windows 11 will receive Outlook Mail sometime in September of this year.
Outlook for Windows will permanently replace the Mail and Calendar apps.
This new version of Mail and Calendar is unified and follows the same principles as Windows 3. As it is based on the same technology as Outlook web and Outlook mobile, there is greater consistency and synchronization across devices. The company is also looking to leverage its OpenAI investment to integrate AI functionality into Outlook in the future.
- Calendar and mail in one place
- Support for multiple emails, including Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, and Outlook.
- Microsoft 365 subscriptions are free.
- Ability to organize events, appointments, and tasks with a customized calendar.
- Easy access to other Microsoft 365 web apps, like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneDrive.
- Improved protection and security of personal and corporate data.
Windows 11 will receive Outlook as the default mail and calendar app in September of this year.
There are some significant changes, but it is a consistent and familiar experience. Users can download Outlook Preview on their devices from the Microsoft Store for free, but it won’t work offline since it is a web-based application. This could be a deal-breaker for many users. Microsoft has released multiple mail apps over the years, but many people praise the quality of the Windows Live Mail app from the Windows Vista/Windows 7 era.
If you have already been using Outlook for some time, you are more familiar with it, and the UWP Windows Mail and Calendars app will stop working next year. However, it’s not perfect, as the company still needs to add support for offline mode, IMAP accounts, and a unified inbox for better convenience.